BUTTERFLY WEED

I looked across a meadow in Calverton. Once farmland, it is now studded with succession plants. Way off, I spotted an orange dot. I knew it was butterfly weed and walked to see it. It makes a decided accent to the tan textures of the grasses, little bluestem, switch, and orchard grass. Of all the species of milkweeds that I look at in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wild Flowers, butterfly weed does it for me. I saw pots of butterfly weed at Lowes in Farmingdale at $28.95 each. I don’t need to buy one because I have butterfly seeds.

While on a survey walk at Tobay Beach on Long Island, I spotted a single butterfly weed plant at the entrance to the 7 mile long bikeway that runs parallel to Ocean Parkway. The plant was dry and had reached maturity and no new growth with several mature seed pods attached. I marveled at the delicacy of these smaller, smooth green pods compared to coarser Common milkweed. I found some pods closed and soft. These had a way to go to open and release the delicate filamentous parachutes that carry the seeds on the wind. From this point, these seeds could travel quite far. To the west, a tangle of brush. To the south, Atlantic Ocean, to the north, Great South Bay, to the west. More brush. This prompted me to collect some partly open pods and try growing them.

Back home I e-mailed Betsy Gulotta who manages the Hempstead plains, Mindy Block, who runs the Master Naturalist Program, and Chris McHugh of the Long Island Native Plant Initiative. I asked if they would like some of these seeds. I estimate about 200 seeds. Betsy said no but the others said yes. I mailed seeds to both along with this essay and tips on how to grow butterfly milkweed seeds. Betsy said my seed was too far away from the Hempstead plains to satisfy genetic comptability.

What I will enjoy is seeing the butter fly seeds sprout and tracking their progress.

So far, I’ve experimented with two weed seeds – dogbane and goats beard. Both took two years to reach seed production. I like goats beard for its huge seed head, like dandelion seed heads on steroids. I like Dogbane because a friend taught me how to make cordage from the tough, stringy inner bark. Unfortunately, I grew spreading dogbane which doesn’t have long enough stalks to harvest the inner bark.

I decided to plant 6 butterfly seeds in each of 16 pots containing a mixture of top soil and potting mix. I planted in late September and intend to put the pots in a cold frame as soon as the first frost comes.

My goal is to plant out butterfly weed when it is strong and healthy. I will seek permission to plant some at Edgewood; a N.Y.S. forest preserve that has plenty of open meadow habitat that isn’t mowed.